


Hold me (and let the world fall away)

by Illyrianwitchling



Series: Tumblr prompts [2]
Category: The Folk of the Air - Holly Black
Genre: Cardan is so in love with her, F/M, Jude is equally in love with cardan, Kissing Prompts, Not graphic depictions of violence, QoN spoilers, THE HUG YALL, Tumblr Prompts, but some violence mentioned, it is in the middle of a battle after all, jurdan-freeform, slightly canon divergent, we STAN
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-15
Updated: 2020-05-15
Packaged: 2021-03-02 19:26:46
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,114
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24202030
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Illyrianwitchling/pseuds/Illyrianwitchling
Summary: It was as if the world came to a sudden stop. No one fought at that moment as the high king of Elfhame locked eyes with the high queen. Jude froze in her movements, heartsworn slipping through her fingers, falling to the ground with an audible clang. In her warm, amber eyes Cardan saw relief, vulnerability, and dare he say...love. The corner of her lips turned into a soft smile. Something genuine and intimate and only for him.
Relationships: Jude Duarte/Cardan Greenbriar
Series: Tumblr prompts [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1742638
Comments: 10
Kudos: 145





	Hold me (and let the world fall away)

**Author's Note:**

> [](https://www.flickr.com/photos/160721222@N05/49898833162/in/dateposted/)  
> 
> 
> prompt ask from JudexCardanxGreenbriar  
> Prompt 39. Kissing tears from the other’s face.  
> Pairing chosen: Jurdan  
> Thanks for the request hun! I hope you enjoy. This was the perfect prompt for something I've wanted to do since reading The Queen Of Nothing.

The world shifted from a drowning sea of blackness and despair to a blinding white. Sounds of metal against metal and screams sounding like a distant echo. Throwing a hand over his eyes, a feeble attempt to avert some of the glow and discover where he was. His vision was blurred only seeing images of odd, swift shapes. Through muffled noises and muddied vision, Cardan felt like he was six feet below in the undersea. Being consumed by wave after wave and pulled down into the depths of the ocean. Yet he wasn't afloat. No, he was standing upright. That much he knew. However, he could smell the copper in the air indicating blood and most likely death. He wondered briefly if this was the nether realm. With the screaming and the particular scent wafting through the air, the possibility didn't seem far. 

Cardan tried to recall what happened. He remembered snapping the crown in two, and Jude's face twisted into horror and heartbreak as a blackness consumed him turning him to the serpent. Everything else came in fragments. Slithering from place to place, striking at buildings and people. The only steady thing he recalled was her voice. 

The last thing he was sure happened before this state was his wife standing tall before his cage of reptilian despair. Jude talking to him and then the burning sensation of sharp steel cutting through the body of the snake. 

Closing his eyes, Cardan tried to shut out the fuzzy formations before him, trying to focus on the land, the magic. There was nothing. Perhaps this truly is death. 

The least this fog hazed world could do was have her voice surround him like a blanket of warmth instead of the screams of many. His Queen, his destruction and salvation. If this was some hellish world how cruel the Gods could be. Soon as she had come, she was taken. Having the briefest time in happiness, fleeting like a mortal's life. How soon they are born and soon they leave the world. That was their stint of ruling and being together. He wished to take it back. To never break the cursed crown that sat atop his head. Or sending her away in banishment. He should've proclaimed her his wife, his queen that day before Orlagh. If only to have a little more time. Mother above he longed to see Jude one last time. Kiss her scowling lips and tell her endlessly, how truly undone he was by her. To proclaim his adoration for her until his voice ran raw. Then it happened, a sudden shift like a breeze turned blustery.

It wasn’t there and then it was. The surge of magic and land seeping back into him. A warm breeze brushed against his bare flesh as he flexed his fingers, feeling his body come awake, truly and fully. By the maker he was alive. In a quickened moment everything shifted. The sounds became louder, encompassing him. The feeling of something thick and syrupy filled the space between his toes. Glancing down, Cardan’s face contorted to disgust realizing it was blood underneath him. A few feet away lay the headless body of the serpent he recently occupied. The once strong body now laying here like a driftwood washed ashore. On his opposite side, he found the lifeless head. The serpent's eyes a dirt brown staring out into nothingness. Between that and the violence striking bodies to the ground, bile curled inside of him threatening to rise. The battlefield was a place for Jude, not him. He went still thinking of her.

_Jude_

Nothing mattered but finding his wife. Paying no mind that he stood tall, with no armor, not even a bit of garment to cover his nude form. His magic, his land would protect him. In the odd chance, it didn’t Cardan hoped he would at least see her face a final time. Taking a few steps away from the serpent he scanned the battlegrounds searching for his High Queen. So focused on the task at hand, he didn’t register the silence around him. As the army of Elfhame dropped their weapons. One by one they kneeled, mouths a gape watching their High King walk before them in the flesh. 

Nicasia was there fighting along with her undersea army. Cardan saw the Roach, and the Bomb fighting back to back against Madoc's army. Occasionally slipping into dark areas along the shore or into the forest then jumping out and striking. Ghost wasn’t far from them Slyfooting and striking with lethal ease like he was born for quick steps and hits. Grimma Mog on the other side leading a charge, slashing anyone who would dare cross her path, like a turbulent storm of brutality. Though he was relieved to see them all alive and fighting, they weren’t Jude.

Like a slow poison, a heavy pain started to crawl within his veins. He found it hard to breathe. Turning left and right he looked for her. The high king tried to focus on the land and sense her out. She had magic too, he had always known since making her queen. If the Land rejected her then, he would have noticed. The land would’ve turned cold and harsh. It accepted her, deemed Jude worthy of its sacred gift. Cardan should be able to sense her energy, her very presence. He couldn’t feel it. Whether she had.. no he refused to think it. The land was stained with battle and that had to be the reason he couldn't sense her. Cardan wouldn’t give up. Until the fight ended he wouldn’t stop. She slayed the serpent and freed him. Jude didn’t give up on him, he wouldn’t give up on her.

“Your Majesty!” A soldier shouted from the ground, Cardan stopped turning towards him, “Her highness, the Queen. She’s there,” a shaky gloved finger from the fae pointed towards a woman. 

Rich auburn hair flowing beneath a helm adorned with branches the hue of evermore apples and rubies laid in between the branches resembling rowan berries. The armor she bore was fitted yet held practicality about it. The mail that clung to her body shined as she moved against her enemies. A sword drawn, he recognized wasn’t nightfell, but heartsworn. 

Cardan watched in awe as she grips the hilt and swings with fierce beauty. His heart swelled with pride watching her parry then strike and parry then strike again. She was as deadly as poison yet moved with refined grace. Appearing like some kind of warrior goddess defending her realm, their realm. Seeing Jude defending their home after everything she had been through here in Elfhame. After how _he_ had treated her so many moons ago. This woman. This cunning, unrelenting beautiful woman was still ready to die and fight for these people, knowing some of them still turn their heads at her. If he hadn’t fallen for her by now, this would’ve done it. The awe was short lived seeing a figure march her way.

There was a hitch in his breath as he tensed. Body filled with dread watching Madoc approach her. The red cap’s heavy blade in his tight grip. Darkened with what Cardan could assume was blood. He tried to shout out her name screaming til his throat burned, but the sounds of the sword against sword rang in the air, swallowing his voice. He never felt fear the way he did now. A sickening twist in his gut knowing he was too far to reach her in time. There was magic to use, but they’d lose their friends in the process and he knew she’d never forgive him. The red cap general grinned maliciously, encircling her, like Madoc was the hunter and Jude the prey. 

Black as night eyes went wide watching the scene unfold. Cardan could tell Madoc was talking as he moved around Jude. The high king grimaced waiting for the devastating blow to his beloved. Waiting for him to lose all control of his magic watching her fall lifeless into the grass, but It never came. Madoc lifted his gaze beyond the high queen’s shoulder, staring in surprise at Cardan. Madoc looked to Jude pointing behind her. Cardan could tell she stiffened at whatever her father said. Time seemed to slow as Jude finally turned towards her husband.

It was as if the world came to a sudden stop. No one fought at that moment as the high king of Elfhame locked eyes with the high queen. Jude froze in her movements, heartsworn slipping through her fingers, falling to the ground with an audible clang. In her warm, amber eyes Cardan saw relief, vulnerability, and dare he say...love. The corner of her lips turned into a soft smile. Something genuine and intimate and only for him. He couldn’t move, he could only watch and drink in the sight of his wife standing tall and breathing. 

Jude reached for the helm pulling it off her head letting it drop atop the blade with a clink. She took a step, and then another. He copied her movements. Suddenly Jude broke out in a run towards him. Cardan braced for impact. Not knowing if she was running to jump into his arms wrapping her legs around his middle, to kiss him soundly, or to knock him and punch him for worrying her. To his surprise, she did none of those things.

Jude slammed into him immediately curling her arms under his as soon as they connected. Her fingers clutching against bareback, digging into the softness of his skin. Almost as if she was terrified of letting go, like this was a dream and he would suddenly disappear from her embrace. Cardan stood there for a minute listening to her shaky breaths realizing she was hugging him. Wrapping his arms around her armor tightly keeping her there against him. Even his tail curled around her, keeping Jude close to him. She splayed her palms running up the curve of his back grasping at his shoulders. Settling his chin atop her head, he softly closed his eyes, swaying with her as he took a hand stroking the strands of her sweat riddled hair. Keeping her nuzzled against his chest, which became drenched with each passing moment. Jude, a woman who rarely sheds a tear, was shaking and crying in his arms. All because he was alive. The feeling didn’t bloom from anger, but affection. It warmed him in a way he couldn’t possibly describe. 

Jude couldn’t stop if she tried. All the pent up walls she built came crashing down the moment her body fell into his arms. Her breaths were far from steady. Eyes burning from the stinging of tears that seemed to flow endlessly as her body shook from the overflow of emotions. He was here and alive. Body warm in her arms. As far as they were concerned it was only the two of them here. The rest of the world fell away when their gazes met.

Cardan pulled away looking down at his wife. The shadow over her eyes smeared across her face. Her honeyed orbs continued to pool over with wetness. A redness formed in the whites of her eyes. Scarlet lips smudged from burying into his chest. He took her cheeks in his warm palms, his lips meeting the salty wet streams falling down her tear stained face. They stayed that way for a while, Cardan kissed all the tears on either side of her face until she relaxed and he could captured her lips in a chaste kiss.

“I can’t believe you cried over me,” he whispered in shared breaths over her mouth before he went back to her cheekbones. His smooth lips tenderly caressing where the tears kept falling. 

“It was sweat,” she replied hands still wrapped around him. Jude attempted to hide her cracked voice and choked sobs. Over laying the words with sarcasm. The way her lip faltered they both knew her bluff.

Cardan arched a brow, “Sweat? From your eyes?”

"Fine," she sighed. Cardan darted between her gaze as she glared up at him. Her eyes for once shined with happiness and hope. Looping her hands around his neck, Jude pulled his forehead to hers, "But if you tell anyone I'll kill you. Now finish kissing them before anyone sees."

He grinned, "If that is what you wish my queen."

They stood there embracing each other. her cool armor against his warmed body. Jude's hand returned to the swell of his back. Holding him as close as she physically could. Cardan cupped her face, peppering kisses along the tracks of wetness down her face.


End file.
